The Montgomery County girls basketball team had many accomplishments in the 2023-24 season, placing first in two tournaments, capturing another conference championship, having a player become the program’s all-time leading scorer and meeting a professional basketball player.

The only thing that put a sting in the Wildcats’ season was a loss to Centralia in the Class 3, District 7 championship game on Feb. 23, denying MCHS a chance to win its third straight district crown.

“I hope they’ll be able to look back and see the things that they did and what they sparked in the young girls in the community,” said Joe Basinger, who ended his eighth season as MCHS coach. “There are a lot of young girls who look up to these kids and want to be like them. I truly hope this season means a lot. I hate that we came up a little short.”

The Wildcats finished with a 22-6 record. They won their first 10 games of the year en route to their seventh straight winning season. They also matched last year’s win total.

Next year, MCHS hopes it continues its winning success. The Wildcats will lose five players to graduation.

“It’s going to look a lot different next year,” Basinger said. “There is going to be a lot of youth and a lot of inexperience. There are going to be a lot of those things. But our JV lost only one game this year. We got some things in place that we think we do as a program that gives us opportunities to be successful year in and year out.”

Claire Cobb, Madi Polston, Maddy Queathem, Malia Rodgers and Olivia Shaw made up the Wildcats’ senior class. They helped the program win 84 games with four Eastern Missouri Conference titles and two district championships during their four years.

Rodgers became the Wildcats’ all-time leading scorer on Jan. 30 against Van-Far, breaking the old mark of 1,300 points that was set by Erica Daume. She also earned all-EMO honors for the third year in a row and was named to the all-state team for the second straight year.

Queathem became the 10th MCHS player to reach the 1,000-point mark in the contest against Van-Far. She was named on the all-EMO team for the third straight year.

The other players on the varsity were juniors Aliviah Fischer and Miley Rieke and freshmen Aubrey Janes and Reese Hill.

Bruce Powers took over assistant coaching duties this season. Basinger said Powers was helpful to the team all season long.

“He’s got so much knowledge of basketball,” Basinger said. “He’s got a wealth of experience. He’s been such a great mentor to me. He’s been great for the girls. He talked about how special they were to him. This is the first time Bruce has ever coached girls basketball. He’s invaluable to our program and I’m forever indebted for him coming out of retirement and spending a year with me.”

The Wildcats began their season with a 44-21 road win over Sullivan on Nov. 17. They won their first Montgomery County Invitational title since 1997 and their first South Callaway Tournament championship since 1992. They won their fifth straight EMO championship with a 10-0 mark, extending their conference winning streak to 51 games.

MCHS also defeated Southern Boone 45-34 on Jan. 6 in the Sophie Cunningham Classic, which is named after a former University of Missouri standout and a current player of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.

In the district finals, the Wildcats lost to a Centralia team that went on to finish third in the Class 3 Show-Me Showdown. MCHS also lost to St. James, Rolla, Owensville, Battle and Moberly.